NMiF looks ahead to special session

This week, NMiF looks ahead to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's special session in July. Executive Producer Jeff Proctor asks Senior Public Safety Adviser Benjamin Baker which bills we can expect to see at the session.

In the first of a two-part discussion, Senior Producer Lou DiVizio asks our roundtable guests to explore the deeper questions around what the governor calls public safety legislation and consider whether any of it will pass. Later, our roundtable guests examine the political stakes of this summer's session falls flat.

Earlier this year, 10th graders from Thoreau High School wrote to media outlets and officials across the state, drawing attention to a recommended cleanup plan from the federal government.

Across the Navajo Nation, contaminated uranium mines have been polluting the air and water and making people sick for generations. As part of a plan to finally clean up more than a million cubic yards of contaminated uranium and radium waste at just one of those sites, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed relocating the waste to private land within the town of Thoreau. Relocating it to the Red Rocks Disposal Facility would move the uranium off the lands of the Navajo Nation, but as the students point out, the town of Thoreau is predominantly Navajo.

This spring, a representative from the EPA met with the students, who listened to a presentation and interviewed him for their podcast. Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus visited Thoreau High School in May and then invited the teens into the studio in Albuquerque to talk about what they're learning, and who they're hoping will listen.

NMiF airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) on Friday, June 28 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 30 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.

NMiF Segments

State Senior Public Safety Adviser on July's Special Session
Correspondent
Jeff Proctor

Guest
Benjamin Baker, Senior Public Safety Adviser to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

NM's Shift in Public Safety Policy Ahead of Special Session
Correspondent
Lou DiVizio

Guests
Dede Feldman, Democratic Former NM State Senator
Trip Jennings, Executive Director, New Mexico In Depth
Daniel Williams, Policing Policy Advocate, ACLU-NM

The Politics of Gov. Lujan Grisham's Special Session
Correspondent
Lou DiVizio

Guests
Dede Feldman, Democratic Former NM State Senator
Trip Jennings, Executive Director, New Mexico In Depth
Daniel Williams, Policing Policy Advocate, ACLU-NM

Thoreau Teens Oppose Radioactive Dump
Correspondent
Laura Paskus

Guests
Reagan Russette, Thoreau High School
MiaBella Burrola, Thoreau High School
Ezekiel Gonzales, Thoreau High School

Host
Lou DiVizio

New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and art issues and explores them in-depth with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment."

NMPBS Executive Producer, Public Affairs, is Jeff Proctor. New Mexico in Focus's senior producer for public affairs is Lou DiVizio. "Our Land" Senior Producer is Laura Paskus. The producer of New Mexico in Focus is Antonio Sanchez, and co-producer is Kathy Wimmer.

Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Viewers Like You.

Funding for the Your New Mexico Government Project comes from the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund.

The Neeper Natural History Programming Fund for KNME-TV provides funding for Our Land: New Mexico's Environmental Past, Present & Future.

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